When a material is cut by a conventional lateral band saw that is one of the saws, chips are always generated. Some of the generated chips adhered to a gullet portion of the saw blade are transferred to a driving wheel and a follower wheel, and enter between the saw blade and the wheels, thereby damaging the saw blade and the wheels or making the saw blade slip. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the chips adhered to the saw blade.
Various devices are conventionally proposed as a chip removing device that removes chips adhered to the saw blade. As one example of a general chip removing device in a lateral band saw, there is a chip removing device in which a saw blade housing is provided with a band saw blade such that the band saw blade can run, the saw blade housing is provided with a brush support member that rotatably supports a brush for removing chips adhered to the saw blade, a stopper member against which the brush can abut is provided at a position near the saw blade, the brush support member can move toward and away from the stopper member, the chip removing device has a biasing unit including a spring that biases the brush in a direction in which the brush abuts against the stopper member, and the chip removing device includes a fixing unit that fixes the brush support member when the saw blade enters with respect to tips of bristles of the brush by a predetermined amount. For example, a device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H7-108415 corresponds to the above device.
The chip removing device requires the stopper member that positions the brush, and the fixing unit having a complicated configuration including a lock cylinder that is a unit that fixes the brush support member. Further, since the brush is always pushed and biased against the saw blade by the spring, it is necessary to retract the brush to a position where it does not interfere replacement of the saw blades when saw blades are replaced, and to fix the brush at that position by the fixing unit. There is a problem that since there is one brush, chips remain on a side on which the brush does not come into contact.
The present invention has been achieved to solve the above problem, and it is an object of the invention to provide a chip removing device in a band saw having excellent chip removing ability that does not require a stopper member for positioning a brush at a chip removing position, and a fixing unit that holds the brush at a retracting position, and that can reduce the remainder of chips.